Fightman's Build Thread

[fightman80]

Congratulations Fightman! That's awesome.

I had a similar experience w/my last job transition... got a good chunk of paid time off, then found a much better job. It's awesome isn't it?

Enjoy your last couple days off, and hopefully you can spend a day with the fam. You'll miss the time off once you're back on the grind.

Thanks man! It was certainly very helpful to have that much time to figure out what I wanted to do next! It gave me some time to get certified in Advanced First Aid, and have time to spend with my kids. It's definitely going,to be hard going back to work, after being off for nearly a year! That beimg said, this a job I never thought I could land, so I'm pretty stoked about getting it!

 

[rickashay]

Thanks man! It was certainly very helpful to have that much time to figure out what I wanted to do next! It gave me some time to get certified in Advanced First Aid, and have time to spend with my kids. It's definitely going,to be hard going back to work, after being off for nearly a year! That beimg said, this a job I never thought I could land, so I'm pretty stoked about getting it!

Congrats Rob! I hope your new job brings you all the mods your 4Runner will ever desire! haha

 

[fightman80]

Thanks Addison! I've got a couple of things planned for my baby, but not for a few months yet... maybe even wait til spring!

No real updates lately, been busy working on my house! In the past few weeks, we've installed new Soffit, Fascia, Rain Gutters, and re-shingled my roof! I'm gonna be taking a break from working on the house for a while, but plan on re-doing the siding when I get enough money saved to do it.

We did however, take a cruise to my dad's farm and pick up our tent trailer today....

Got it home, and gonna prep it for camping season! My new job isn't going to give me any time off during the summer for camping, so I'll just have to drive to and from camp in order to get to work and back!

 

[LittleCaesar]

Good luck with starting work there Nippleman 80 (ha!); just don't be a stranger.

 

[giguchan]

I could be wrong, but that there Pop up looks like a viking...
I have one... they are great units. good luck with it.!

 

[DeTwizzle]

I could be wrong but is your baby smoking a fat cigar with a sweet dons ring on, or is that the bird?

 

[DeTwizzle]

At least she is nice enough to ash out the window!:wow:

 

[HedgehogOutdoors]

Ok, so I've been working on restructuring the valance, making it solid again, and properly grafting the light pods in. After using the mesh and Epoxy, I took out the Dremel, and a sanding bit, and got to work on cleaning up the rough edges. I then used a sand paper to soften the sanding bit marks.

Once that was done, it was time for the Plasti-dip:

It's still too cold in my garage to let it dry there, so I decided to bring it in the basement to dry by the fireplace:

It will most likely be another day before I mount it on the bumper and then back on my truck. That being said.....IT'S COMING ALONG!

The previous owner of my 4runner dipped the front and rear bumpers, which are both not stock bumpers for some reason, and dipped the grille. The color scheme does work well IMO, but the dip on the grille is starting to peel around the Toyota emblem. Is that a normal issue if you dip the exterior parts of a vehicle?

 

[fightman80]

YEah man.. If you read further into my build thread, you'll see that I stipped the plastidip using paint thinner, and then re-coated it with plastidip. I then put a few coats of clear gloss Duplicolor paint to protect the plastidip.

Now, that being said, it's still not perfect, but it's much more durable than plain plastidip.

 

[fightman80]

Well, finally got my alignment done! I had to swap my little 265's back on so the guy at the shop could put his machine on my wheels. Apparently, the combination of my Bighorns and the Procomp Wheels I was running would not allow him to mount the machine on them.

I snapped a quick pick of the smaller tires on my stock wheels, right before I took them off again to run my 285's.

Now the truck is riding smooth, with no wander!

 

[giguchan]

I had no idea that you could do that. i thought the tire/rim combo had to be the same that was being aligned. I now know diffrent. I guess a "Truck /4x4 shop" would have the proper gear to perform the work.

I'm glad i now know this for the future.

thanks and the best of luck.

 

[fightman80]

Yeah man, I don't really know how that works! lol! The garage owner told me that my Procomp wheels and Bighorn tires had too tight of a seal around the bead, so he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't mess up my rims with his machine. I told him I had the stock wheels with some other Mud Tires, and he asked me to swap them so that he could do the alignment.

In the end, it got done, but a major PITA for me, as I had to take the winters out of storage (garage attic), mount them, de-mount them after the alignment, and now have to put them back in the attic!

I'm happy I did though, the front tires were starting to wear unevenly, as a result of all the front end work I did without an alignment. Now the truck tracks straight, doesn't wonder at all, and rides like a NEW 4Runner!

Next project I have in mind, is to change the Steering rack bushings, and maybe do a new Radiator. Then maybe in the spring, Sport Hood???

I'm not too sure what I'm going to do at this point, I'm planning on maybe selling the wife's car, and getting a 2005 - Newer Quad Cab 4x4 Tacoma, so gotta save my pennies for a down payment!

 

[LittleCaesar]

If I get to the rack bushings first, I'll post some pics.

I take it the job is going well so far for you then?

 

[giguchan]

Ok cool.... well i am glad that everything worked out for you in the long ass run.. yeah it does seem that was a PITA but it worked and everyone involved is happy.. andf your rims stay pristine.

a win win for everyone!

 

[fightman80]

If I get to the rack bushings first, I'll post some pics.

I take it the job is going well so far for you then?

Pics would be great man! As far as the job goes, it's going really well! I'm really enjoying the atmosphere, and love the toys I get to play with while on duty!

 

[LDForget]

Next project I have in mind, is to change the Steering rack bushings, and maybe do a new Radiator. Then maybe in the spring, Sport Hood???

This might throw your toe out of wack.

 

[fightman80]

Really? I was told it wouldn't affect any of,the suspension geometry.... hummmPP

 

[fightman80]

Took the old girl out to go do some camping...

 

[giguchan]

Looks great man!! I love to go camping.... "the ol gal" i remember the time i called my at the time GF that called her that once.... you have some breathtaking views..(and not just the truck either) looks like that water has some good fish in it too... I cant wait till my "old gal" is up in the air with some new rubber.... soon enough.. ordered lift on friday.... brake upgrade shortly there after..

thanks for sharing.

 

[fightman80]

Well, not much has been going on with the 4Runner lately. I've been driving it a bunch, to get to work, but even that has taken a break, as I'm currently off on Doctor's orders for a medium risk skin problem that has come about due to a large dose of Antibiotics I've been taken for another issue.

That being said, I can't sit around at home doing nothing, so with the help of my beautiful wife and youngest daughter, we washed old Mean Green down.

Afterwards, I came in the house for a rest, but feeling restless again, I decided to get working on some wiring I've been procrastinating on for quite some time. The trucks stock towing harness was located in the storage compartment in the rear cargo area. When in use, the compartment had to be open, and the wires hung out with the hatch closed on top of it.

That was not ideal for me, and it only took me 8 years to get sick of it! lol! Today, I decided to cut the harness, run the harness through the rubber grommet into the tail light recess, and then drill a hole in the bottom of that area, so that I could run the wires down under the truck and to the tow package receiver.

I used a big dab of black gasket maker to hold the wires in place, and avoid chaffing, but will look into finding a rubber grommet when I have a chance.

Here's a shot of the tow harness on the tow receiver, all stealthy like...

I plan on getting another plug that I can permanently fix to the receiver tube, so that it looks more OEM.